in the studio
Sept 2009
Amy Barnes is a bhakti soul-sister from Nashville, a super sweet woman, and a dedicated kirtan-wallah. After kirtan camp San Anselmo 2009 (her sixth kirtan camp!), she stayed in town for another month to record an album with Ben Leinbach (producer of Jai’s albums, and many other devotional music albums). I got to visit them in the studio one Friday afternoon and sing response with Kari Marble on a couple cuts. At the end of the session, with a little time left, Amy asks me to try singing something on her Radhé Govinda song. “Think Robert Plant,” she tells me. Robert Plant??? Singing kirtan??? And then the tracks they’ve been cooking up get pumped into my headset. WHOAH! Rockin’ groove, layers of chant float in and out, overlap kaleidoscopically, drums pumping, bass thumping. OK! Here goes! I close the door to the sound-proof recording booth to protect the neighbors, imagine tight bell-bottom jeans and Jimmy Page at my side, and dive in…
